Pan-Fried Onion Dip

Mmm, more dip! Since we’re heading into the start of the football season, it’s likely that you’ll be seeing an increase in appetizer-style food over here. While my heart belongs to chocolate, butter and sugar, when not eating dessert there are few things that I love more than appetizers and dips. I waxed poetic about it last week when we chatted about Artichoke Spinach Dip, so I won’t repeat myself here, but suffice it to say I’m a sucker for good dips. And this is better than good. This is hide-it-and-the-potato-chips-from-everyone-else-so-I-can-have-it-all-to-myself kind of amazing. If you think French onion dip from a plastic tub is good, you’re going to go out of your mind over this. Make sure you pencil it in for one of your game day menus!

The biggest flavor booster here is the caramelized onions, so make sure you get them nice and brown. This dip is best served at room temperature, so if you make it ahead of time and refrigerate it (which you can totally do) just give it enough time out of the fridge to take the chill off and get it back to a great dipping consistency (I’d say about 30 minutes). I think this is a perfect dip for potato chips, but you could also serve it with pretzels, vegetables, pita chips, and the list goes on and on.

I’m planning on saving some of this to munch on while I toil away at my fantasy football draft (which is online since our league is spread out over multiple states). I’m certain it will bring me good luck. Look out, Baker’s Dozen is back with a vengeance! 😉

Directions:

1. Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8-inch thick half-rounds (will result in about 3 cups of onions). Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions, cayenne, salt and pepper and saute for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onions to cool.

2. Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Serve at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers.

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Hi, Michelle. I enjoyed your post and have been meaning to make this out of Ina’s cookbook – the “real” version of the onion-dip-mix from every party of my youth. Thanks for the inspiration to make it finally, Dan

Oooh! This look so good! And easy to boot! I am going to clue the English in to what they are missing…although the “football” games I’ll be serving it at are a little different, and then I call it soccer, and everyone corrects me… 🙂

I’ve been making this same, exact dip for years and had actually forgotten where it came from! But it is so good that it’s what I’m often asked to prepare if I offer to bring something to a get together with friends.

I’ve cooked up the onions & there is a lot of liquid in them (I cooked them for 10 + 30 minutes). I haven’t added them to the cream cheese mixture yet (I’m serving it up tomorrow night so it’s in the fridge right now) & I wondered if I should drain the onions or add the liquid into the cream cheese mixture with the onions. I figured a lot of that was oil but maybe some of it was onion “juice”, etc. so I don’t want to pour it off if its necessary for the flavor & consistency of the dip! Thanks for your help!

I make this dip a lot, but I caramelize the onions until they are double in color as this picture shows…they get a rich brown color (rather than tan in this pic). Cook for up to 60 minutes…low and slow, there should not be any liquid/fat left to drain.
Get as brown as you can without burning. You will be stiring a lot. Slice onions thin too. Just my two cents…hope it helps. 🙂 Happy cooking.

i have a great way to make this recipe even better! this is pretty much the same as my onion dip recipe. but, when i cook the onions in the pan i add a little water during the last 15 min or so and it really plumps up the onions. also, i add a spoon or two of Worcestershire sauce. YUMMY!